We look around and see others in all manner of unique conditions, from rich to poor, from healthy to sick, from famous to unknown, from smart to not so much. Then of course, there is our own unique life conditions. What then, is the common denominator that makes any given life valuable? Or not?

Both of those lives are equally valuable, yes.
(Although the Mind recoils at that statement!.... "What the hell is the value of the life of a mass murderer??!!")

Well... from the "horrific" to the "beatific" (and everything in between), all life experiences are valuable because all are necessary to define one another. How could an experience be experienced if nothing different from that experience existed?

(But then there's the question: "What's the point of all this sampling of different experiences?"

Beats me! ... Maybe so that the Universe can come to know Itself?)

“We ourselves are not an illusory part of Reality; rather are we Reality itself illusorily conceived.” - Wei Wu Wei

(But then there's the question: "What's the point of all this sampling of different experiences?"

Beats me! ... Maybe so that the Universe can come to know Itself?)

Hmm. So the Universe gets to know first hand 'the devil in the details'. I wonder if it's kind of why we like to go to movies depicting all manor of horrid events and conditions. Experience without so much of the risk. Just like we get to walk out of the movie at its conclusion, so too we get to walk out of this life at its conclusion. And yet we get to keep the experience for whatever purpose.

Both of those lives are equally valuable, yes.
(Although the Mind recoils at that statement!.... "What the hell is the value of the life of a mass murderer??!!")

Well... from the "horrific" to the "beatific" (and everything in between), all life experiences are valuable because all are necessary to define one another. How could an experience be experienced if nothing different from that experience existed?

(But then there's the question: "What's the point of all this sampling of different experiences?"

I seem to recall Tolle saying something like "On one level this is true" and quoting:

"The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einstein

If I remember correctly (Can not seem to find the audio) Tolle added that on another level the "faculty" for liberation is inherent in all.

Maybe what "we" truly (cherish) value is what "we" will fight for? What will "we" fight when no enemies or "selfs" are perceived to begin a fight (Surrender)? How could that affect our perceived values?

On the ground floor level of conventional/consensual reality, a valuable life is just that: one that adds some kind of value to the individual, the collective, the planet, etc. Reduces suffering, spreads kindness and love, promotes awakening, creates and shares beauty, that kind of thing.

On the middle level of let's call it transcendent reality, I agree with turiya: Every life is equally valuable, just as the Buddha resides equally in a monk's and a murderer's heart. (Maybe even in the air molecules between them?)

On the top floor of ultimate reality, the question is moot since there is no "valuable life" or a "you" to define it, there just IS.

Interestingly, I posted a thread in another forum recently: "What matters?" To you, those around you, plants, animals, Earth. It seems like for a lot of people, after doing the spiritual thing for a long enough time, the question "Okay, but what really matters?" arises. It's a biggie.

On the top floor of ultimate reality, the question is moot since there is no "valuable life" or a "you" to define it, there just IS.

It's curious how one can look at this question of no-self. What I see on the 'Top floor' (isn't that an oxymoron?) in my best imagination is that on/in/at that Top Floor there is only You. It's where all 'yous' become the One. Of course, really, who can say with authority? Here in this form we make our best guess and speculate. In all the studies I've done of those who have glimpsed beyond this human experience however, no one has ever gotten to the Ultimate End/Beginning/Essence. There is always more.

Those contacted that reside there permanently say much the same. And in that more, there is always some sense of self. Yes, some reach a state of Infinite being, but self always returns. I wonder that that self-sense may be the greatest gift from Source.

We look around and see others in all manner of unique conditions, from rich to poor, from healthy to sick, from famous to unknown, from smart to not so much. Then of course, there is our own unique life conditions. What then, is the common denominator that makes any given life valuable? Or not?

WW

Value is always relative, although the relative comparison between Manson and whoever one might find saintly is an effective way to call this notion into question. A counter-comparison would be: who is more valuable, a doctor that performs abortions or a combat soldier? Manson is almost universally reviled not only because he kills, but because it would be uncommon to make any sort of sense of his motivation.

To answer the question directly, life is priceless, and no material merit can add any quantity to that infinity. In the relative terms of who I would like to give and take attention to and from, I value sanity.

Stop talking. Hear every sound as background. Look straight ahead and focus. Take one deep breath. This is you. This is Now.